They’re keeping the layout and “adding more storage”, even though you can easily buy a 1TB SD card for your current Switch. So, in all honesty, it’s just a Switch with a bigger screen. At least on a Steam Deck you can play an order of magnitude more games on it, with -much- better variety.
The only thing I still buy from Nintendo is hanafuda. They got some pretty good quality, playable stuff. I guess their shogi equipment isn’t bad either.
Well, there also seem to be credible leaks that it’ll have some sort of duel screen system, potentially functioning like the DS. It’s probably going to be more than just a bigger switch.
“Mostly the same games” except for all the Nintendo IP. Most folks aren’t pirating games I’d imagine so they’re aren’t really the same libraries for the vast majority of consumers.
The vast majority of Switch games are not made by Nintendo, and the vast majority of those are available on PC and Steam Deck, and typically better versions of those games at that.
Yeah, sorry, you’re not going to try have a neutral perspective about this, are you?
But humor me, why are so many Switch still being sold if other stuff is so superior? After all, like you said, they’re quite comparable and hey, Deck seems strictly superior. Right?
I mean, I just said they were comparable. To say that they’re not remotely comparable is laughable. But here are a quick few reasons: one of them is in Walmart and the other is not; one appeals to children (not the least of which is the presence of a brand “moat” in Pokemon) in a way that most other electronics do not, which also translates to multiple children in a family each having their own, which drives up sales numbers; one of them already had an international distribution chain to handle territories like Australia rather than having to build one up; one came out 5 years earlier than the other, including existing in a time period where handheld gaming PCs were typically not driving comparable 3D graphics, but that changed a mere few years later with advancements from AMD in the x64 space.
This is a paradigm shift that has occurred since the Switch’s launch. Here’s an interesting thought: do you think there will still be the “port everything to the Switch” crowd for the next Switch when the game already has a PC version ready to go on the Steam Deck? Because I’ll bet they just buy that device, or a competing handheld PC, instead without having to hope that the game they want to play gets a Switch version, and that’s exactly the weakness of the console model in the modern era.
The differences between those two things have begun to dissolve very quickly in the past 5 or so years, and that’s both why they’re very comparable and why so many people are seeing the writing on the wall for consoles.
Because Nintendo games on Nintendo handhelds almost never go wrong and you know what parents love? Their kids shit always just working. You dont have to check the system specs, you buy the game at the store and it WORKS. You wrap the game under a tree at Xmas, you can tell grandma “Nintendo Switch” and while she might pick something shit, its going to work.
Lemmings love to act like they are enlightened for figuring out the Steam deck is better… its not for you. Its for 5 to 10 year olds.
The fact that “plateaued” is a cause for concern is everything wrong with our global economic system. Infinite growth shouldn’t be a necessary component of stability. A plateau should be a goal to aspire to.
the article is more about AAA games than consoles, and i agree with the article's takeaway. graphical improvements have been an Emperor's New Clothes situation for about a decade for me now. the reason we have those hundred hour AAA games is because with today's technology, the only advantage big studios have over indies is sheer volume of content. people are starting to wise up to that more and more and those studios will have to find a different way to justify those massive budgets and price tags or simply go under
as for consoles, though? i think the average PC gamer underestimates the value of things Just Working to the vast majority of customers. PCs themselves are having a tough time against smartphones and chromebooks and computer literacy is decreasing from gen z to gen alpha as a result. the seeming failure of the newer xbox and playstation has more to do with the aforementioned dying AAA market and the fact that they've become dumbed-down gaming PCs themselves instead of Just Working. the Switch successor will probably not be great but still sell gangbusters because Nintendo is monopolizing the market on Just Works, even if just barely!
The economics of consoles made more sense when computer power was expensive, and the choice was an underpowered home computer with so-so graphics and sound or a dedicated game machine optimised for drawing sprites and scrolling the screen responsively, with the extra costs subsidised by the price of (uncopyable) software. When PCs caught up, the consoles started looking internally like x86 PCs with souped-up GPUs (and, of course, draconian amounts of DRM baked in). Now with devices like the Steam Deck (and similar form-factor devices running Windows in game-console mode), there’s no real reason to buy a dedicated game-playing machine.
Consoles have gone almost nowhere since the xbox, of course they aren’t going to be generating infinite growth. The ps5 controller is the first change in consoles I’ve seen in years that was genuinely interestingv outside of graphical quality. Nintendo is, of course, an exception to that. Every console they release is either genuinely different to the last or meaningfully upgraded, other business practices aside.
There’s no need to worry about it, because long-term, this is a good thing for everyone. The market didn’t tolerate multiple home video or audio formats for very long, so it’s kind of a strange anomaly that we tolerated it for video games as long as we did. Now the concept is coming up on the end of its usefulness, especially since the platform holders won’t let up on certification/patch fees, online subscriptions, external digital storefronts, and all sorts of other concessions that have historically made them more money but maybe don’t make sense in the modern era.
I got a different take from this article. The economy doesn’t really play into the fact that games are so big today because you have to make it bigger than the previous one. Same with the console stats. Gotta make it more powerful. But we are at a point where most people can’t see the difference between PS5 and PS4. It’s going to be even less obvious when PS6 arrives.
Depends on which games though. Like a CoD or FIFA will continue as usual, small visual upgrades but still yearly releases with minimal changes. Going from a PS4 to a PS5 with those games will hardly be a difference. I think current generation consoles focused more on higher resolution and higher framerates anyway, which was a welcome change to me, since a lot of games on PS4 ran like sub-par 30 FPS.
But if you take games like Horizon Forbidden West, it’s a pretty significant visual upgrade from Zero Dawn. Same goes for Spider-Man on PS4 and then Miles Morales on PS5, visually looks like a pretty significant upgrade.
Perhaps not everyone notices the visual fidelity moving up in consoles, but honestly that’s never been all that different with previous console generations. Unless you compare games from early in the life-cycle of a console, and then another game from the end of a new generation console. It still mostly gradually happens over the lifetime of a console generation.
I do think graphical progress has been slower than before, mostly because they seem to have shifted focus on higher framerates and resolutions. But in 5 or 10 years we’ll look back at these visuals as laughable. I remember feeling like this every few years, like thinking something looks like the most realistic game ever, and 5 years later you look back at it is being pretty mediocre compared to new standards.
Within console generations, change has indeed always tended to be gradual, but I think the point here is that we’re talking about the step up to the next console generation, for which the visual difference in graphical power used to be very large, you could do a lot more on the newer console than the older one, but has become more gradual over time. Many already didn’t see the need to upgrade to the new Playstation or Xbox from the PS4 or Xbox One, and a lot of their libraries were backported to the older consoles (granted, the consoles dropped during Covid so scarcity played a part in that but even after production picked back up they’re not doing as well overall). The only console that could still likely make a big visual leap to a new generation any time soon is the Switch to the Switch 2, and we still don’t have confirmation on whether Nintendo is even planning on such an upgrade. Just like the Wii, it sold like crazy while still being the least powerful in the generation because it had a knockout combination of utility and quality games. On the other hand, it is showing its age now, so if Nintendo doesn’t make that upgrade who knows if the fans will continue to support it.
Nintendo has acknowledged that a new Switch is coming, and we’ve seen leaks come out of Chinese manufacturing that appear to be legitimate to those in the know.
It was an open secret at Gamescom that it’s going to be similar in performance to the Steam Deck or a PS4 except running on ARM. That will be a huge upgrade compared to Tears of the Kingdom struggling to hit 30 FPS at very low resolutions.
Because improving visuals is an easily quantifiable task, but improving gameplay requires creativity and risk-taking, neither of which are compatible with the AAA business model.
That’s what the publishers keep saying, because it distracts from the real issue. (also- 3D artists, 2D artists and graphics programmers aren’t doing gameplay systems…)
The real reason is the monetization of play, if they make things too fun, you’ll keep playing some osingle player game instead of their expensive live service titles.
They make everything bad to try and prop up those live services.
PC is the only console I’m excited about. Switch 1 was already collecting dust and I’m still waiting for that Metroid game that was supposed to be on it. However portable devices are on the rise, like Steam Deck for instance. I’d currently rather get that, than a Switch 2. we don’t even know what games S2 will have.
The switch only had Super Mario Odyssey. I don’t count rehash with a short new bonus level. SMO was amazing, but where is SMO2?
Zelda Totk is basically Botw and you just need the later to have the same map. Also both Zelda were no traditional Zelda’s, they were mostly sandbox games.
Kirby was largely seen as too easy, one really has to be okay with that. I was hyped but didn’t expect it to be that easy. Left me kind of disappointed.
Metroid Dread, I wish it hadn’t been a 2D platformer as there are so many of them. Most interchangeable. Looking forward M4 still.
Megaman, I’m no fan of so I can’t say much about it.
Splatoon is amazing and a big selling point. Same with smash, but you could just own one of the dozen different versions on a different system and would not notice.
Pokémon has always been my selling point, but everyone knows the issue with those. I literally have more fun playing old DS Pokémon games, even though challenge never was their strong point.
Nintendo Switch 2 is just Nintendo. While with a portable device you could play so many indie games on the go that either have expensive Switch ports or don’t exist for the Switch at all. Switch 2 is not going to change that. And yeah, I asked myself a lot if I have just outgrown Nintendo games, but truth is Nintendo changed a lot and so have their other publisher releasing for Nintendo systems. I’d not have as much fun with old games, who I have never played before otherwise.
Lol. 90 hours games. Fuck that shit. I’ve never been on board with that nonsense. Give me a decent 8 hour game and stop destroying the lives of your employees with never ending crunch.
I’d say even PC, in terms of hardware, has plateaued. Many PC gamers are staying on Nvidia 1080 and 1070 cards, because gaming just hasn’t moved up past that graphical level - and it really shouldn’t, because quite a few human eyes just can’t see much detail beyond then - and developer budgets quite often don’t catch up to make use of all that excess hardware.
This might mean we effectively stay with the PS5, or even the PS4 generation, for quite a long time, while still generating ideas with what we do in that level. Probably the biggest thing we have to do now is control gaming budgets better. Try watching the credits of any Ubisoft game, and think “Someone approved all of these hires.” Meanwhile, rewind to Half-Life 2 and they played through the entire credits of the game during the opening sections without it taking a half hour.
Console manufacturers will have to adapt and liberalize self-publishing to stay relevant. AAA gaming continues to enshittify, and indie games / smaller studios are the ones releasing the good titles.
Valve knows this, and the ease for developers to release on Steam means they’re well positioned to ride out the transition. By comparison, releasing on console means signing license agreements, getting access to proprietary SDKs, submitting your game through an approval process, getting each update reviewed, etc etc. The barriers make releasing on console very unappealing for smaller developers.
So IMO if the consoles want to ride out the decline of AAA games, they will need to reinvent their image and how they interact with smaller studios and indies.
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